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Toward an Anabaptist Theology of Baptism and Ecclesial Mediation

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Toward an Anabaptist Theology of Baptism and Ecclesial Mediation By One Spirit into One Body: Toward an Anabaptist Theology of Baptism and Ecclesial Mediation By Anthony Gene Siegrist A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Department of Theology of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology Awarded by Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto © Copyright by Anthony G. Siegrist, 2012 By One Spirit into One Body: Toward an Anabaptist Theology of Baptism and Ecclesial Mediation Anthony Gene Siegrist Doctor of Theology Wycliffe College of the University of Toronto 2012 Abstract The working Anabaptist theology of baptism suffers from a deficient account of divine action, especially as mediated through the church. The goal of this dissertation is to develop resources to remedy this weakness by drawing on elements of the sacramental theology and ecclesiology from the broader, mostly Protestant, tradition. The fact that communities professing to practice believers’ baptism actually baptize children is an important point of departure for this project. This aberration signals underlying confusion about the nature of the church and the relationship of the human and divine actions that form it. A construal of baptism that does not reduce it to rationalist testimony, abstract spiritualism, or the sum of its sociological parts is needed. Such an account can be developed by attending to the ways in which the church embodies the ongoing presence of Christ in the world and exists as a community accompanied by the Spirit through time. In line with this sacramental trajectory believers’ baptism can be understood as a participating witness. This ecclesial practice is a witness to God’s redemptive work, and as an act of God performed by the church it participates in the gospel’s ongoing effectiveness. The dissertation concludes by describing how baptism understood in this way might be performed; a model is suggested that could strengthen Anabaptist communities by renewing this historically central practice. ii Acknowledgments I am grateful for the wisdom of my many teachers and the uncommon fidelity of the communities of River Corner and St. Barnabas. Professor Mangina’s supervision of this work has been incisive, and the attention of several other readers has helped me avoid needless errors. My project could not have been completed without the ongoing encouragement of friends, family, colleagues, and students. Most of all I am indebted to Sarah. There is nothing I can write to adequately express my thanks for your companionship. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 Part 1: Subject ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 The State of the Question.................................................................................................................................... 5 Part 2: Method .......................................................................................................................................................... 16 Part 3: Procedure ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 3.1 Organization .................................................................................................................................................... 18 3.2 Notes on Language ........................................................................................................................................... 19 Part 4: Implications .................................................................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 1: “LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME” ...................................... 22 Part 1: Believers’ Baptism among Anabaptists ................................................................................................... 24 1.1 A Shifting Practice ........................................................................................................................................... 25 1.2 A Portrait of Contemporary Believers’ Baptism ............................................................................................... 27 1.3 The Contrasting Practice of the Amish ............................................................................................................. 29 Part 2: The Doctrinal Context ................................................................................................................................ 34 2.1 Anabaptists Baptizing Children—A Symptom of Theological Confusion ....................................................... 34 2.2 Contemporary Anabaptist Denominational Theologies of Baptism ................................................................. 42 Preliminary Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 53 CHAPTER 2: IN FAVOR OF ECCLESIAL MEDIATION ................................................. 55 Part 1: On the Necessity of Ecclesial Mediation ................................................................................................ 55 1.1 Discipline, Discipleship, and Ecclesial Ambiguity ........................................................................................... 55 1.2 Human Action in Place of Divine .................................................................................................................... 63 1.3 A Pietist Attempt to Reclaim Divine Action .................................................................................................... 68 Part 2: Toward an Outline of the Concept .......................................................................................................... 71 2.1 Barth on Baptism .............................................................................................................................................. 72 2.2 Human and Divine Agency in Barthian Perspective ......................................................................................... 78 2.3 Yoder and the Sacraments ................................................................................................................................ 81 2.4 Yoder and the Sociological Reduction of Ecclesial Practices ............................................................................ 87 Preliminary Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 94 iv CHAPTER 3: ON THE ECCLESIAL CHARACTER OF DIVINE PRESENCE .............. 96 Part 1: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Sanctorum Communio ........................................................................................... 100 1.1 Why Sanctorum Communio? ..................................................................................................................... 100 1.2 Bonhoeffer’s Critical Development of Idealist Themes ................................................................................... 103 1.3 The Theological Necessity of the Life of the Church ....................................................................................... 105 1.4 Initial Analysis and Appropriation ................................................................................................................ 111 Part 2: Pilgram Marpeck ....................................................................................................................................... 117 2.1 Practices as Co-Witnesses............................................................................................................................... 122 2.2 The Trinitarian Binding of Inner and Outer .................................................................................................. 125 2.3 Church and Incarnation ................................................................................................................................. 128 2.4 Initial Analysis and Appropriation ................................................................................................................ 130 Part 3: A Subordinate Objectivity....................................................................................................................... 133 Preliminary Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................... 143 CHAPTER 4: THE SPIRIT AND THE PROBLEM OF FRATRICIDE .......................... 145 Part 1: The Spirit and Anabaptist Memory ....................................................................................................... 148 1.1 Framing the Question ..................................................................................................................................... 149 1.2 The Classic Anabaptist Account ..................................................................................................................... 151 Part 2: Twentieth-Century Revisions to the Classic Narrative .....................................................................
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